


possibilities

by jukain



Category: Phantasy Star Online 2
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Spoilers, afin is not australian, female player character - Freeform, pso2 na compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:21:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25057621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jukain/pseuds/jukain
Summary: an arks operative and dark falz have a chat
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	possibilities

“ _there_ you are!”

persona releases a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, and the resulting hiss is swallowed by the weight of her mask. she ponders the merit of continuing to don it this long after the end, wherein it no longer continues to serve its purpose to shield her identity-- all the while afin closes the distance to her side and flops down a too-casual mere feet away. persona feels his presence too keenly; that sickening light of photons, and the persistent warmth of its wielders. such power used to be hers, as well, and to a degree that made her _special_ to arks. important in their grand scheme.

having known the torture of that power burning out of her in a time that no longer exists, all it does is now is make her feel ill.

“why are you here, afin?” she asks him lamely and without so much as glancing in his direction. he swings his legs off the side of the ledge where he had joined her, and hums out a cheerful noise.

“is that a serious question?” he asks, tilting his head a little in her direction and causing his bangs to slide over his eyes. “i came to see you, duh.” 

he says this like it’s the most obvious thing in the world (and to him, persona thinks, it truly might be). “and it wasn’t easy tracking you down, either! you really gave me a run for my money, teleporting all over naverius and wopal like that... _honestly_.”

persona’s jaw clenches against the twinge of pain that bursts deep within her monstrous heart, if only for the way he chats so openly as though they were still comrades and not opposing forces. “you don't have any reason to see me. go home.”

afin doesn’t immediately respond, his smile withering somewhat at her disdainful tone of voice, and he chooses to instead spend a moment looking at her with intent she doesn’t recognize. she doesn’t know what he sees in the mask, or beyond it, and has little desire to reveal anything past the facade she’s worn since the death of everything she knew. none of that part of her matters anymore, and she’s satisfied enough with this fact.

“can’t a guy visit his friend just because he wants to?” afin says finally, rolling his eyes in good-natured humor. he lazily shifts back to lean on his arms propping him up from behind. “you don’t have to act like a dark falz, you know, you can just be--”

“i _am_ dark falz,” persona interrupts sharply, barely restraining herself from outright vanishing on the spot and from the face of the planet once again. she rises to her feet and quickly puts distance between herself and afin. “i’m not like your sister, who was only corrupted by apprentice’s leftovers. i was _born_ a dark falz, and am second to the profound darkness itself.”

persona stares out into wopal’s horizon until her vision blurs the line of sea and sky. she hears only silence at her back.

“i’m not _just_ your enemy, afin. i’m a danger to all life and _especially_ to arks operatives who have _no idea_ that i used to be one of them. that _this damned existence_ is the fate of those of you who fought _too hard_ for a stupid, pointless cause.”

“oh yeah, you’re _so_ dangerous sitting around here staring at clouds. i’m shaking in my boots.”

against all odds, afin _laughs._ this child _laughs_ at her, at dark falz persona, who helplessly turns around in a state of speechlessness she hasn’t known in an impossible amount of time. she remembers this laugh. remembers this feeling when she caused it.

“you’re really something else,” persona mutters in disbelief, which is apparently the right thing to say, since afin gasps dramatically and leaps upright.

“you’re _smiling_!” he shouts while aggressively pointing at her and grinning so broadly his face might actually split in half.

“and how would you know that?! you can’t even see my face!” her own voice surprises her. how long had it been since she lost her temper, in any form? it’s nostalgic in the way it simmers in her chest without pain.

“you’ve always been easy to read!” he cackles, “being a dark falz hasn’t changed that at all!” 

once his laughing fit mellows into light giggles, afin rests both hands on his hips. persona stares at him and how he looks pleased as punched, while she is exposed and vulnerable in all the ways she can’t use violence to combat. was there ever even a point to trying to shake this boy off? she knew from the start that he would never give up, not on her, not on _anyone_. that was just... that’s just how afin _is._

a dark falz and one teenage arks operative. how stupid of a punchline this turned out to be.

“you’re a good kid, afin,” persona says honestly, “but you really should go back to the ship. there’s nothing else for you here.”

he makes a face. “i’ll be the judge of that, thanks. but i get what you mean. if i got caught by control having small talk with a dark falz... oof. i’ve needed my friends to drag me out of enough trouble for a lifetime.” he scratches the back of his head absentmindedly.

“you don’t seem to care that you’re doing that. having ‘small talk with a dark falz.’”

“well, i’m not bothered by it, if _that’s_ what you’re worried about.” afin beams at her. “it’s not like you had much choice in what happened back there... with...” he cuts himself off and shakes his head a little to dismiss that train of thought. “either way, i don’t consider you any less of my friend just because of all you went through. you can be a person or falspawn or _whatever_ \-- you’re still you. even if technically there’s two of you running around now, which i’ll just have to get used to, i guess!”

ah. so that’s how it is.

this time, persona does know she’s smiling, and makes no attempt to convince herself that she isn’t. perhaps another day she’ll learn to laugh again, too, and remember what kind of humor she liked before she lost any reason to feel that sort of happiness. after all, there’s no way to tell what will happen to her, to them, since the future is and has always been so uncertain... and isn’t that the very reason why it’s so exciting?

can a dark falz feel hope? persona doesn’t know. but when afin waves her goodbye and starts off back down the beach as joyfully as he came, she thinks she’ll eventually find out.


End file.
